McLellan acknowledges he would have preferred Friday start — plus Campbell’s OK with the booing

All week Todd McLellan has been saying he wasn’t concerned about whether the Western Conference finals started Friday or Sunday, that the Sharks would play whatever hand they were dealt.

But when word leaked out this morning — NBC has already removed the information from its web site — that the series against the Chicago Blackhawks would begin at noon Sunday, the Sharks coach relented a bit and did state a personal preference.

“In our situation, I wish we would be playing tomorrow to tell you the truth,” McLellan said. “But it’s not and there’s nothing we can do about it. Yet with that being said, I’m glad we won in five, I’m glad we did not fly back to Detroit, I’m glad we didn’t play last night in Game 7. There’s a lot of pros that come with ending the series earlier.”

And here’s the latest update from the Sharks coach in the rest vs. rust conversation:

“We’re past the rest part,” he said. “I know when we finished with Detroit, you guys asked the same question and we said we’d err on the side of rest. We’re past that. If we’re not rested now, shame on us.

“Now we’re to the point where we’ve got to take care of the rust,” he continued. “We can practice as much as we want. We can expose them to videos. But they have to remember that feeling, when you’re legs are burning and you’re working in the corners and it’s 1-1 and there’s a ton of pressure on you. They have to keep that thought and that sense of what it feels like in the back of their mind because they’re going to need it real quick where we start playing again.”

****The Blackhawks had their first skate in San Jose this afternoon and the one guy I wanted to talk with afterward was Brian Campbell for the obvious reasons.

Yes, he expects to be booed at HP Pavilion. And, maybe somewhat surprisingly, he’s kind of likes the idea.

“I didn’t like it my first time back,” said Campbell, who played 33 regular season and playoff games as a Shark after he was acquired at the 2008 trade deadline, then left July 1 as a free agent and signed an eight-year, $56.8 million deal with Chicago.

“But then I talked with people who have been through that before,” Campbell added, “and I think sometimes it’s a sign of appreciation that they’re disappointed I wasn’t there anymore. I think you try to turn everything into compliments in some sort of way, or positives. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m right, but I’ll look at it that way.”

His current coach, Joel Quenneville, is among those he’s talked to about it.

Campbell said he liked playing in San Jose — “good building, good fans” — and he was straightforward with the Sharks organization at the time he left.

“They were aware of my situation,” said Campbell, who wanted to play closer to his Southern Ontario roots. “I was up front with them the whole time. It is what it is and I have nothing bad to say about the city or management or anything. The organization’s first class and it’s a great place to be.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

#140 – I kind of liked it when it was the Checkerdome, I always thought the roof looked cool.

Z.SharkRA

Let’s see…what can we throw on the ice for this series? A Shark with some Indian feathers and Cambell’s silly hair chomped in it’s mouth?

nick bunk

Reading these comments is exactly why i can’t stand most Sharks fans. Speaking as a fan from day one (though I wanted the North Stars, then would’ve been brought back as the original Seals) and never approved of the pansy color teal (which btw is part of the jinx: Never will win a cup in teal, but now the color looks more like powder blue so maybe they have a chance): why “boo” any player, especially someone like Pronger? He is exactly what this team probably needed to shed the nancyboy rep. You should be cheering that guy, to have had him on the team all those years he almost single-handedly stole Sharks’ chances to advance in playoffs; would’ve given up a whole roster full of Marleau’s.. And booing Campbell, are you kidding me? The guy was here for 30 games? He’s nothing to this organization. Useless. and useless fans. And when is the guy at the tank going to play a different song after a goal? So annoying, just like the goofy fans doing the chomp….

Sammie friend tony oh

me thinkem sammie is obsessed with me, Tony Oh, biggum hawk fan. sammie think about how much he likum campbell because as he said “I’m booing campbell because he sucked a** during the playoffs a few years back. Like really blew it for us in my opinion. ah well.” sammie like people that suck a**. it was a few years ago…get over it. now use your brain…too much depth…speed.. hawks will winum in 5. shark fans remind this biggum hawk fan of how vancouver fans were obsessed with big buff, all of you palefaces are unnaturally obsessed with campbell

I’ll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)

NickG

WTC getting spammed again. LOL. At least the spammers are talking about current events or products that people may be interested in. There needs to be sports related spammers. Unfortunately spammers are ridiculously incompetent.